Louisiana lawmakers pass new congressional map with second majority-Black district

BATON ROUGE, La. — The Louisiana Legislature on Friday approved a congressional map with a second majority-black district, marking a victory for Democrats and civil rights groups after a legal battle and political tug-of-war that lasted nearly two years.

Democrats have long fought for a second majority-minority district among Louisiana’s six congressional districts — arguing that political boundaries adopted by the Republican Party-dominated Legislature in 2022 discriminate against Black voters, who make up a third of Louisiana’s population . The change could create an additional seat in Congress for the Democratic Party.

The Republican Party has opposed drawing another minority district, arguing the 2022 map is fair and constitutional. But in a turnaround during this special legislative session, the card gained bipartisan support after Republicans said their hands were tied by a looming Jan. 30 court-imposed deadline and feared that a federal judge nominated by former President Barack Obama , would redraw the map itself if the task was not done by the completed legislators.

The legislation is now on Republican Governor Jeff Landry’s desk, where it is expected to receive his seal of approval. During the special session this week, Landry repeatedly urged the Legislature to adopt a new map that would satisfy the court, rather than potentially putting the job in the hands of “some heavy-handed federal judge.”

Louisiana is among the states that fought over congressional districts after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled in June that Alabama had violated the Voting Rights Act.

Under the new map, 54% of the voting population in the district currently held by Republican U.S. Rep. Garret Graves would be Black — up from the current 23%. Graves opposes the plan, saying in a statement to The Advocate that it “ignores the redistributive principles of compactness and communities of interest.” Other Republicans in the House of Representatives and Senate echoed these concerns.

Republican Rep. Glen Womack, who introduced the legislation, said race was not the “predominant factor” in deciding where the new boundaries would be, but that “politics determined this map.” Womack said he prioritized protecting the U.S. House of Representatives seats. Speaker Mike Johnson and U.S. House Majority Leader Steve Scalise and Congresswoman Julia Letlow, who represents Womack’s region and serves on the powerful House Committee on Appropriations.

In the 2022 map used in last November’s election, there is one black-majority district: the 2nd District, which includes most of New Orleans and extends to Baton Rouge, and is represented by U.S. Rep. Troy Carter. Carter is the state’s only black and Democratic member of Congress.

The 2022 map was at the center of political woes in the Capitol, with former Democratic Gov. John Bel Edwards vetoing political boundaries and the Legislature overriding his veto — the first override of a governor’s veto in almost three decades.

In June 2022, Baton Rouge-based U.S. District Judge Shelly Dick struck down Louisiana’s map for violating the Voting Rights Act. Dick said in her ruling that “the evidence of Louisiana’s long and ongoing history of voting-related discrimination weighs heavily in plaintiffs’ favor.”